On Her Own Wings
by Wildmage117
Summary: Forty years after Breaking Dawn, and Edward and Bella find themselves once again on the high-school scene. But is everything still the same? What has changed after four decades? A Twilight and Maximum Ride cross-over from Bella's point of view.
1. Déjà vu

My first fan-fiction, a Twilight and Maximum Ride crossover (although the Flock fans will be disappointed...). I'll start off slowly- mostly because I can't be bothered adding the next chapter to this now. 871 words is good enough for now, right? Please R&R :3

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Changing schools always dragged back hazy memories of my human life- of moving to Forks and meeting Edward for the very first time. Decades had passed since that meeting, but still some things remain exactly the same.

High schools, for one. Their drab and dreary existence formed the sole pinnacle of my boredom. The very height of tedious monotony.

And this was only my fourth time through.

The cafeteria was packed- despite it being only a few weeks out of August, the temperature was near freezing. Regardless, the four of us- Alice, Jasper, Edward and I still found a separate, empty table to sit at, tucked as far away as possible from the general human population.

A soft sigh sounded next to me, and I broke into a smile. Edward looked about as bored as I felt, trying to tune out from the great mess of voices in his mind. Certainly, during these idle hours at least, his ability was more of an annoyance rather then a help. He caught my eye, and his face relaxed into a lazy grin, golden eyes gleaming.

"The usual?" I asked. He nodded slightly, the tiny movement invisible to nearby onlookers.

"Of course. Plenty of speculation about us, by the way."

He wasn't kidding. Although we were several feet away from any human, I could see nearly half the school glancing in our direction, some standing on tip-toes to get a better look, whispering rumours in neighbours' ears. Our presence was a brand new novelty in this small, snowy town.

Alice laughed lightly. "Anything good?"

"Fairly good ideas floating around, actually. Some of these people are quite imaginative, but of course, there's nothing bordering on the supernatural just quite yet," he permitted himself a brief grin. "Lucky Emmett and Rose decided to go with Renesmee and Jacob to college in Anchorage- I'm not sure that their minds would be able to comprehend all ten of us together."

"Pity."

My thoughts drifted, wandering to focus on Jacob and Renesmee, attending college for the first time in Anchorage, one hundred and seventy-five miles away. They weren't alone- Rosalie, still not trusting Jacob's intentions, had enrolled for the year, and of course, Emmett had followed her.

It was the first time in forty years all ten of us had been separated, and it made me somewhat miserable, depressed. Being in high school at the time certainly didn't ease my mood.

The cafeteria doors opened, letting in a blast of wind and a small bunch of latecomers. Shivering, they grabbed their plastic trays and lined up at the counter, desperate for something hot to eat. The heaters blew their scent in our direction, and despite my hunting trip a few days ago, I felt the dull ache in my throat, the venom flowing in my mouth. I sighed and glowered at my tray and the sandwich that lay there, uneaten, untouched.

A slight snicker brought me out of my reverie. Edward, seated next to me, was reading through was I realized was my timetable, comparing it to his own.

"We have one class together," he said, his smile twitching slightly. "Sixth period Biology, as it happens."

I couldn't help it. I burst into quiet laughter, drawing sharp glances from surrounding tables. Some things, it seems, just never change.

The rest of the lunch period passed with little event. Edward stared out the window, absent-mindedly fiddling with my hair, while Jasper played with his food, tearing his uneaten bagel into tiny pieces. Alice retrieved a student brochure from her bag and began to re-read it.

Pretences, all of them. Formed out of habit in an attempt to fit in, to assimilate a human façade.

A strange sense of déjà vu filled me as I casually glanced at the humans' faces, filled from every expression from wonder to jealousy. A boy three tables over was gawking in our direction, his shepherds' pie, speared on a plastic fork, halfway to his mouth. Six tables in the other direction, a large group of giggling girls kept pointing or stealing sly glances us, Edward and Jasper in particular. On the other side of the room, a dark-haired girl dressed entirely in black glared at me, her piercing eyes boring into mine.

We would never be able to fit in amongst this human crowd, as the Cullen family had never fitted in Forks, or had never fitted in the previous two high schools I had attended with them. Our very presence made them feel edgy, tense- a product of their wary instincts. Even with all the curiosity raging in this tiny hall, all the whispers and pointing fingers, the ten-foot radius around our table was an official no-human zone.

Seeing this all first hand from a vampire's point of view made me wonder where my sense for self-preservation had disappeared to those forty years ago.

A few minutes later the bell rang, a deafening buzzing tone that cascaded through the hall.

"Shall we?" murmured Edward, proffering his hand.

Aborting my intense scrutiny of the students, I smiled and followed him into the herd of humans rushing to their next classes.


	2. Lessons of Tedium

I was overwhelmed by the response of my last fanfic, and feeling loved, uploaded the next chapter. Slightly longer this time- imagine my amazement when my _two page _word document turned into an itty-bitty little...

Well, over that now. Please rewiew to further boost my already-inflated ego- I _like_ being loved...

**Disclaimer** (I forgot this last time. So sue me)**:** The Cullen family (plus all the backstory that goes with it) belong to Stephenie Meyer. As does Jacob. You get the picture.

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Being at high school made me truly appreciate the effort that the Cullen family had put in to keep their identities from being too heavily scrutinised. Certainly, after studying junior Biology three times, twice with a photographic memory, the repetition did manage to gnaw away at you. It was definitely gnawing now, I thought as I copied down notes about the Cell Theory from the board, fighting the urge to scribble down the whole page in a fraction of a second. Even humans are susceptible to notice some things, and arousing already suspicions minds wouldn't help our charade one bit. I let out a small, frustrated sigh. Hearing me, Edward looked up from his own paper, chuckling at the expression on my face.

"You seem to be in a remarkably good mood today," he said quietly.

I poked my tongue out at him childishly. "How many times have you studied this subject? Nine times? Ten?" I kept my voice low but teasing- not that any humans would be able to decipher the speed at which we talked.

"Twelve, actually, but not to mention the courses I took in college." He leant back on his chair, and flashed me a smile that pulled at my heartstrings. Briefly, I contemplated the tedium that I would be forced to face had he not been in my class.

The thought made me groan. "You have to talk to the female administrators as soon as possible. I won't be able to last a single term here if you're only going to be in my Biology class. English and Gym are going to be living nightmares without even Jasper or Alice there. I might even have to kill one or two teachers just to relieve the boredom."

"I'm sure you'll survive," he said jokingly.

The bell rang, and all of a sudden there was a frenzy of humans gathering books, stowing away pens, and rushing to the door. I moaned.

"English. Ugh."

Edward leaned in and softly kissed my cheek, eyes gleaming. "Look at it this way- it's only one more hour of tedium to suffer through."

"That's a point," I said, rising from my chair. "Are we hunting tonight?"

He nodded, and followed my lead out of the door.

I sighed again. For the next few weeks, English was bound to be the bane of my existence. Although it wasn't quite as dull as Calculus or Trigonometry, especially when you'd completed the same textbook multiple times, there was a certain something to be said about writing essays on novels you could already recite from heart. The subject was doomed to be a thousand times worse without any of my family present- I recalled the high school in Boston we attended some eight years earlier when Renesmee had been in my English class.

There would be none of that this time, I thought gloomily as Edward left after walking me to the door of my classroom. Maybe I'd be able to use the time for some independent reading- not that I didn't get enough time for it already.

I was scowling as I entered the classroom, my mere presence enough for the group of human girls already present in the class to halt the animated conversation they'd been participating in. I took a seat as far as I could from them in the upper back corner of the room, next to the window overlooking the car park. I immediately picked out Edward's Audi, quite distinct against the backdrop of rusty petrol-tank vehicles. My thoughts involuntary jumped to the memory of his long-since retired Volvo in the Fork's car park, and a let out a small smile. Edward's obsession for cars- another thing that hadn't changed over the course of the years.

The class slowly filled up, students trickling in one by one. The empty chair beside me remained empty; unfilled- it was good to know that the humans' survival instincts were functioning well enough to stay well clear of me. Certainly it was much more beneficial to their personal state of well-being.

Not that my presence stopped the looks and whispers. A small group of students, sitting in the far corner were in a deep and hushed discussion about our family, unbeknownst to the fact I could hear every word of their conversation perfectly.

"So she's part of that family that moved to town?"

"One of four adopted children, I hear… her name's Bella Swan, or something like that."

"Apparently she's _together _with that bronze-haired guy…"

"They're _living _in the same house?"

My mind switched off at that point, unable to listen to more on the petty and trivial details of our human charade. I was acting as Bella Swan again, a seventeen-year old girl adopted by Esmé and Carlisle at an early age. Alice was also going by my former last name, while Edward and Jasper were acting as brothers.

Maybe complicated for a human mind to comprehend, but it was nothing to our cover story in Boston- a somewhat-believable explanation to cover six vampires, two werewolves and half-human attending the same high school. I could barely believe we were able to escape scrutiny.

It was fun, though. I cannot deny that it was fun.

The teacher rushed into the classroom a few minutes later and began the lesson, silencing the talkative crowd in the corner. She took the roll call, and as always, was startled into silence as she took in my appearance, her heartbeat accelerating dramatically.

We were physically attractive to our prey, certainly enough to draw eyes of the human sheep of the school. A carnivorous flower, if you would. A vegetarian carnivorous flower in this case; my personal record still clean and unblemished, but dangerous nonetheless. I smiled back at the teacher encouragingly, taking care not to reveal the full extent of my teeth, urging her to get on with the lesson as soon as possible. Drawing suspicion to ourselves was definitely not on my top ten "things to do" list.

The teacher, fulfilling my unspoken wish, turned back to the class and began her lecture on Shakespearean language. I took notes, for lack of a better thing to do- she couldn't possibly have known I had studied this subject when she was still in her childhood. The disadvantages of eternal youth.

Twenty minutes into the monotonous speech, I heard footsteps echoing down the hall in the direction of the classroom. Reminding myself to act human, I kept my head down, only looking up a few minutes later as the door opened with a resounding slam, and all human heads swivelled to look at the familiar-looking girl, black hair, dark clothes, standing in the doorway.

Wishing to maintain the steady silence we'd been working in, the teacher ushered the girl to her desk for interrogation. Motioning to the class to continue their work, she questioned the student in a low undertone, of which I could hear every word.

"I got lost," the girl proclaimed, loud enough for the humans to hear. "Hardly a federal crime, is it?" she flashed a grin, michevious eyes dancing. Her heartbeat thrummed with adrenaline, going overtime. Maybe she wasn't as laid back as she made herself out to be.

The teacher pursed her lips, fighting to keep a smile of her face. "True, but your tongue makes me wish otherwise. Take a seat- Danielle May, is it? There's a spare spot next to Isabella," her voice stuttered over my name.

I sighed reluctantly, shoving my belongings to clear way for the newcomer. This would be an uncomfortable semester for both of us, and I briefly wondered if her bravado would be able to hold out the lesson. She looked cool, composed as she walked across the room, her act betrayed only by the swift drumming of her heart. She was dressed entirely in black, bulky, complimenting both her cropped hair and olive-toned skin. My photographic memory recalled her as one of the many humans in the cafeteria staring obviously at our table.

She was staring at me now as kicked the chair aside, shrugging her bag off her shoulder. Not blatantly gawking unlike most of the students in the room, but more calculatingly, suspectingly. Her head cocked to one side as she took in my appearance, not even flinching when I met her gaze.

Well, there always had to be the odd one who didn't care for their safety.

She smelt funny, I noted as she took her seat. Her blood, apart from being considerably anemic- had she eaten today?- had a sharp and distinct tang, almost to the point of bitterness.

The teacher restarted her lecture, drawing an end to the swelling hum of conversation. The girl- Danielle- didn't draw attention to herself for the rest of the lesson, scribbling down notes in an almost illegible hand. She occasionally glanced in my direction throughout the period, a frustrated look on her face, and her thrumming heartbeat- the only thing reacting to my presence- didn't settle all lesson.

And she fidgeted. The girl seemingly didn't _have_ the ability to sit still. She was playing with her pencil, the zip on her pencil case, tapping her foot, recrossing her legs, or doodling in the margin of her paper. Here was I, reminding myself to blink or change my weight every so often, and next to me was the girl with ADHD. Talk about ironic.

When the bell rang at the end of the period, the girl jumped up and began hastily stowing away her belongings into her shoulder bag. Not wishing to force the girl into an uncomfortable conversation, I sidestepped past her, giving her a small nod of acknowledgement.

Her head cocked to one side, she gave an even smaller one in return. Then, even faster than me, she stalked out of the room without a backwards glance. How odd.

My thoughts changed its course when I saw Edward out the window, out early from his Social Studies lesson. Permitting myself a brief grin, I quickened my agonising slow pace. We were free from school for seventeen blissful hours, and I hardly wanted to waste any of my time here. Despite all my good intentions to put on a convincing show for the humans, I walked almost a bit too fast in my rush to meet Edward.


	3. Cross Country Conversations

**Disclaimer:** Bella, Edward, Alice and their vampireyness belong to Stephenie Meyer, etc., etc.

Third chapter now. Believe it or not, this story actually spans over seven pages in Word, and yet it still looks absolutely miniscule on site... Sometimes I wonder Captain Libeka, just _how _much do you write?

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First lesson in the morning was Gym. Wonderful.

I treated gym now with the same disregard I held for it in my human years- although definitely not for the same reasons, the level of effort that I contributed to the subject still managed to stay the same. While human, I tried my best not to injure anyone in the general vicinity, including me. Now I endeavoured to do everything at an almost lethargic pace in order not to draw attention to us.

Recalling a brief flashback from our brief high school period in Montana made me chuckle. Emmett didn't quite succeed at reining in his immense strength in one memorable gym lesson, unintentionally smashing the basketball all the way through the timber floor. Edward tried to pass the incident off as a dead spot in the floor, but it didn't seem like everyone quite bought it. Added to all the circumstantial events that took place at the school during our brief stay, it was a wonder that we lasted two years there before the suspicions began to take its roots.

Today the teacher decided to send us all off on a three mile cross country run around the general school vicinity, and all at once he was bombarded with a flurry of students all either with fresh injuries, forgotten clothes or sudden sicknesses.

Mr. Oswald was not amused. He threatened the keep the whole class in, (amazingly leading to the miraculous findings of the lost clothing) and grimly handed out detentions and duties to all who had conveniently "forgotten" to receive a note from their parents. In the meanwhile, I sat in a deep corner in the locker room; glumly changing into the clothes Alice had bought for me the previous day in Fairbanks. Edward would be in Calculus now, and there would be no way to see him until break. I sighed and did up my shoelaces.

The weather wasn't much better than yesterday; the ground was littered with small puddles of mud and patches of mud, the sky was still overcast and the temperatures were still in the low fifties. In short, perfect vampire weather- not that the humans were enjoying it much, complaining as they were about the wet and slippery track.

Once on the course, the pack of humans splinted and fell into small groups- the fastest sprinting ahead at a pace that would only carry them a few thousand feet before they tired, the laziest settling into a walking pace that gained the gym teacher's annoyance.

Obviously I ran alone, but within a hundred feet of the group of runners ahead of me. They helped squash my urge to just sprint through the course and complete it within seconds, instead of plodding on at this agonisingly slow pace.

Stupid human cross-country. I _liked _to run fast.

After approximately two miles, I heard the light footfalls of a single runner around a hundred feet away, sprinting in my direction at an almost idiotic human speed for a cross-country course. Scowling, I didn't even turn my head, instead fighting down my in-built vampire instinct of competitiveness.

However, instead of the runner's footsteps slowing and falling to a jog, they kept strictly to a flat-out sprint. The gap closed between us, the person reaching so close I could hear their fluttering heartbeat. Still, it wasn't until the wind changed, and I smelt the human's strange-smelling scent that I looked back to confirm my guesses.

Wearing a mischievous grin, Danielle May, the enigma from my English class pulled up beside me, her sprint slowing to match my slower pace.

"Hey," she said calmly, her voice only slightly marred from breathlessness. "Glad I caught up to you."

I raised one eyebrow. "That was a pretty impressive run for someone who just wanted to say 'hey,'" I said, surprised again by her blasé composure. She was dressed in the same fashion as yesterday, sporting an overlarge black trench coat and dark, baggy jeans. I wondered momentarily how she'd managed to weasel her way out of Mr. Oswald's detentions.

She shrugged, still nonchalant. I was impressed despite myself.

"Aren't you hot?" I asked, casting another look over her clothing. She was barely panting, despite the distance she'd covered to catch up to me. She shook her head, eyes flashing.

"Hardly. It's freezing out here," she laughed. "Sorry about yesterday by the way, I really didn't mean to give you the cold shoulder or anything."

I gave a grin despite myself. This girl's eutrophic mood was infectious. "Here I was thinking that I was being rude myself." I was struck by the irony- the human apologising to the vampire for being rude.

"I'm Danielle, by the way. You're Isabella Swan, aren't you? Part of that new family moved to town?"

"It's Bella," I corrected. "You're new too, aren't you?"

"Fresh out of Albany, New York. You?"

"Seattle."

She laughed lightly. "No wonder you seem used to the weather."

"I've never really known much different," I replied, half-telling the truth. My memories of Phoenix and the southern sun were dimmed in comparison with forty years of staying out of the sun.

She flashed me a quick grin. "Any particular reason to why you just up and left?"

"My mother always wanted to live in a small Alaskan town," I shrugged, flatly lying now. "Glennallen seemed perfect. How about you?" I countered, eager to throw the spotlight of myself.

She frowned slightly. "My mother received a good job offer at the hospital. She works as a nurse there, with your father, I presume. Isn't he a doctor?"

I nodded slowly, sensing from her grimace that there might be some information that the girl was withholding. I didn't even believe that any good offer from an Alaskan small-town would be worth moving over half the country for. I briefly contemplated what she could be hiding.

We jogged together in silence for a while, her legs matching my pace exactly. Relieved from the pressures of interrogation, I studied the girl out of the corner of my eye, pondering over both her story and her bizarre reaction towards me. Never had I actually made very much contact with humans when in high school; generally speaking, they avoided us like the plague. This girl must be seriously messed up to be able to ignore her most primeval instincts.

As we rounded a sharp corner and the gym came in sight, the girl finally broke the silence. "Want to race?" she said, indicating the few hundred feet to the finish.

I shook my head, smirking as she laughed and increased her speed, leaving me behind. She sprinted ahead at a breakneck pace, covering the remaining distance in mere seconds. Wishing the liberty to do the same, I kept strictly to my agonisingly slow pace.

It was certain that Danielle May was an enigma to me. Her strange appearance, laidback attitude and obvious lies were certainly going to entertain me in my Gym and English classes until I managed to rearrange my schedule. Of course, I could just get Edward to read her mind or Alice to predict her future, but where was the fun in that? I had to have something to occupy me in my periods of boredom.

I saw her in the locker room, still wearing her same black clothes, her cheeks hardly flushed at all despite her finishing sprint.

"See you in English," she smirked as she rounded out the door.

It probably wasn't a good thing, I realised, letting her into my life like this. Despite her total lack of fear when around me, it was hardly as if we could be friends, or even get to know each other well. Maybe I would convince Jasper to influence some students to take a liking to her, to accept her into their peer groups. It had to be hard on her, moving from the other side of the country to totally different surroundings.

It wasn't like she would _want _to be friends with a vampire...


	4. Visions and Midsummer Dreams

This chapter took such a _long _time to write, plauged as I was with homework, writers' block, and books sitting on my bedroom floor calling "Read me!" Read me!" so I apologise for the wait- and express my total and utter amazement at this story's response so far. Thank you so much to those that have taken the time to read it :) it makes me feel happy.

**Disclaimer:** Bella, Alice, Edward, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Jacob, Renesmee... etc, etc, etc, all belong to **Stephenie Meyer.**

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"Guess what's happening tomorrow afternoon?"

"Spill it, Alice."

"Nuh-uh. You have to guess!"

I sighed, rolling my eyes theatrically. Alice certainly was useful- when she delved out her information to me, for example. Otherwise, she'd give a cryptic clue here or there, give everyone dark and significant looks, or just annoy the hell out of everyone but Edward.

We were in French, the one of the three classes I shared with her, sitting at a desk together in the back row as the teacher lectured the class in a very try-hard French accent. Since I'd arrived, Alice had seemed to be bursting with excitement, hardly able to keep still. I suppose this new vision of hers must have been the cause of all her enthusiasm.

"Okay. Um. There's going to be good weather tomorrow?"

She gave me an exasperated look.

"Maybe not then," I said, grinning now. "What about… any potential national disasters? A nuclear weapon falling on the school?

"Nope. You're nowhere close, you know."

"Is Mike Newton planning an extended camping trip in Alaska?" I suggested wildly. "Give me a clue, Alice. Wait- are the Republicans going to win the vote?"

"Of course not. I saw that last week, remember?"

"Fine. Um…"

She groaned, putting her head in her hands. "You're hopeless, Bella. It's so _obvious!_"

"Maybe to a certain vertically-challenged psychic vampire I know, but not to me. Let's see… is the Denali clan coming over to visit?"

She sat up, sparkle in her amber eyes. "Now you're getting close."

"Okay, Denali. Are Kate and Garret finally getting married?"

"Ugh. I give up on you. You're nothing but a lost cause," she moaned in despair.

"Please Alice?" I begged her- I certainly didn't want to wait for Edward to tell me at break. "Pretty, pretty, please? I promise I'll be a good girl and go shopping with you tonight if you tell me- I'll even try not to complain!"

She held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, that's an offer I can't refuse," she said, grinning now. "Fairbanks, okay? I saw a pair of really cute shoes hat would fit you perfectly last time I went up there- it's only a pity that my last very last credit card was maxed out at the time... "

I tapped my foot impatiently against the desk, trying to give her a deeply significant look.

"Fine, okay, okay. I've got two words for you; Jacob and Renesmee."

I stopped my tapping at once, and I was slightly aware of my jaw dropping slightly. My breath caught and I could feel excitement welling in the back of my throat. Jacob and Renesmee! It had been months since we'd last seen them…

Alice watched my changing expression, a smug smile on her pixie-like face. "Sorry, four words," she added slyly. "Rose and Emmett are now coming up too. They'll all be here tomorrow afternoon- we'll be one big happy family again!" she gave a wide grin; I gave her an even bigger one in return.

"So, what's the occasion?" I asked when I finally managed to get the words out. "I thought they said they wouldn't be able to come over until late October!"

She shrugged. "From what I gather from Emmett and Rose, It's supposed to be a surprise visit- not that they could ever surprise me. It _does _become slightly obvious when your whole future becomes totally obscured by blind spots for a day."

"Of course. Very obvious indeed," I noted, trying to keep a straight face.

The sarcasm sailed right over her head as she nodded her head happily, her eyes wide with delight. "Oh, we're going to have so much fun! Good thing you're coming shopping with me tonight- I think we'll need to prepare, what with next to nothing in the house... I suppose they'll all need new outfits as well..." her words trailed off as she contemplated the utmost importance of her new task ahead. I barely was able to contain a slight snicker. She childishly poked her tongue out at me in return.

"Watch out," she warned me sarcastically. "The teacher's going to collect our work in a minute- and he's not going to be in a good mood if your sheet is still blank."

I gave her a haughty sniff, but promptly began to quickly jot down the answers on my empty worksheet. The bad thing about arguing with a psychic is that you never know whether they're telling the truth about their predictions or not- so I'd learnt the hard way to never ignore Alice's advice.

Sure enough, when the bell rang loudly only a few seconds later, the teacher collected our work and dismissed us for break. I put both Alice's and my papers on the desk, and hurriedly collected my belongings in one fluid motion, hoping for the chance to give Edward the good news before Alice reached him.

I caught him just as he was walking out the door of his English class, Jasper on his tail. I sidled up next to him and put my hand up on his far shoulder- he instinctively wrapped his around my waist.

"Hello," he said, kissing me softly on my cheek. "Let me guess- you found French was so boring you escaped just to fall into my open arms?"

"Yes, and no," I replied, giggling. "Alice had some good news I wanted to share with you two first." Too excited to form coherent words, I instead pushed away my mental shield, thinking hard about Alice and our conversation.

He probed my mind eagerly, easily, reading my thoughts as if they were words on a printed page. I saw his expression change into an even wider smile, his grip on me tightening. Jasper walked next to us, no doubt confused my both my words and my mood.

"So, are the college graduates finally returning home?" Edward asked me, crooked grin firmly set on his face.

"Silly vampire," I scolded him, laughing. "They aren't graduates just yet. We're expecting a visit from all of them- Emmett, Rose, Jake and Renesmee- tomorrow afternoon," I added for Jasper's benefit.

"Maybe not Jake and Nessie," he said, smirking as the mystery of our conversation fell into place. "But you forget that Emmett and Rose have already graduated from Anchorage twice in the past- in all truth, they should be part of the old seniors group- classes of both '69 and '02."

I laughed, letting my mental shield recoil back to its original position.

If possible, the rest of the day I was able to pay even less attention to my lessons than I did normally, spending the break and lunch talking and planning with Edward, Alice and Jasper, and my lesson time wondering about Renesmee, Jake, Emmett and Rose- where they were now and how long it would be before they arrived. So lost in my thoughts and mind, I only realized as I waltzed into my English classroom and saw a dark figure sitting at the desk in the back row, that I had pushed the enigma of Danielle May right to the back of my long train of thoughts.

"Hey," she said, looking up as I put my belongings on our shared desk. "You seem rather excited for some reason."

"Do I?" I asked distractedly, trying to calm myself. It seemed that this girl was certainly observant- not exactly a good thing, especially with me walking around in a vampire daze. Fortunately, she didn't press her case, thankfully interrupted by the teacher entering the room, carrying a large, tottering pile of shabby and unkempt textbooks.

"Oh, wonderful," Danielle muttered sarcastically under her breath. "Shakespeare."

Sure enough, it was one very battered copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream that landed on our table several minutes later as they were being passed around the class.

"Your task," the teacher tried to call out from above the groans of the students, "is to read the play- yes, all of it, Rebecca," she added, addressing a scowling girl in the middle row. "Then you will need to pass up a short critical assessment on the overall plot and main themes that occur during its course. You must share the book between yourselves- there aren't enough copies to go around, but mind you, this isn't an excuse to hand up a shared essay."

I tuned out as she began to elaborate, not really in the least bit interested. I had done a similar essay back in Forks, of all places- it would take me all of a minute to print it out and hand it up during the course of the week. I supposed my English lesson had turned into nothing but independent reading time, I thought as I began to leaf through the pages of the tattered book, thinking almost longingly about my Shakespearean set of hardbacks, sitting on my bookshelf at home.

"How can you do that?" a voice interrupted me.

I looked up, startled, meeting Danielle's dark eyes piercing into mine, reminiscent of yesterday in the cafeteria.

"What?" I asked, surprised. "Sorry- do you need it? I've already read it several times… What? What did I say?"

Her eyes had widened at my words, her mouth dropping open slightly. "You read Shakespeare in your spare time?" she said, her voice skeptical.

"Err, yes?"

"You understand it?"

"Ye-es…"

Her face split into a wide smile. "I am so glad you're sitting at my desk right now."

"You don't like Shakespeare," I commented, almost laughing at her bizarre reaction.

"Don't like seems to be too mild a term. I hate reading books and novels as it is- but Shakespearean plays? Ugh!"

"You hate reading?" I asked in surprise. "Any particular reason why?"

She shook her head slowly. "More lack of practice than anything, I suppose," she said, her brow creasing as she contemplated my question. "My primary school… was different, suffice to say."

"Really?" I said, my curiosity growing.

She shook her head again, the expression on her face clearing, forming a grin. "Never mind me- I'm sure I'll be able to get through it. Eventually."

I laughed, the sound drawing eyes from surrounding tables. "Just ask me if you need any help with it. I'll be glad to lend a hand."

Her eyes brightened, her expression lifting. "You would? Really?"

"Sure."

Surprising me, she threw her hands around me, hugging me as she would a friend in a schoolyard- not as though I was a creature that triggered her every self-preservation instincts. I froze intuitively, my vampire senses going haywire, preparing myself mentally for that smell- that mouth-watering human smell that would threaten to overtake me.

Stupid! I thought to myself. Stupid vampire, letting humans get too close!

Her smell hit me then- not the flagrant, overpowering scent I'd gotten used to over the decades, but a sharp, definitely acidic tang that almost left my mouth bitter. My throat hardly burnt up at all- rather, it rejected the smell, making my nose slightly wrinkle up in disgust.

Her blood didn't smell faint or anemic at all right then, I realized with a jolt, as she released me and started her reading attempt. In English yesterday and Gym this morning, I had smelt her faded, watered-down scent- now in close proximity, and without the weak edge, I could smell it like it truly was.

Acidic.

Sour.

Disgusting.

And I could only think of one group of people who had blood just like her.

It was probably a good thing that I was seeing Jacob tomorrow...


	5. To Skip or Not To Skip

Okay... such a _long _time since I last updated, and I'm sorry to all though who are actually reading this. I spend hardly any time on this during the holidays, and I repent now by giving you a pretty damn large chapter (by my standards, anyway). Mostly it's so long because there's so much moving around... Sorry if people don't like it, but I need to set it all up for the next chapter.

Head's up- Jake and Nessie aren't in this chapter, but they will appear (hopefully) in the next one. Sorry to all the Jake&Nessie lovers/ flamers. (It's a very thin line in my opinion)

Feedback is always nice... Help me by telling me whether I suck or not :P

* * *

"So, you're _sure _that she's a werewolf?"

"No," I admitted, shaking my head furiously. "Truth be told, I have _no _idea what she is. She could be a werewolf, or a very, very strange vampire. She could only be a human who smells funny, for all I know!"

I had finally returned from Alice's drawn-out shopping trip sometime early in the morning, after hours upon hours of browsing stores, trying on shoes and clothing, and carrying mountainous piles of shopping bags to and from the car. If there was anything in the world that could possibly tire a vampire, it was Alice's shopping trips. Jasper was usually her preferred victim, but she wasn't too choosy about who went with her.

I wasn't able to tell Alice anything while upon the trip- being as she was in one of her overenthusiastic frenzies. Never mind the highly potential threat of an underage teenage werewolf when Alice notices an article of clothing that Renesmee would look "simply adorable' in.

I was finally able to tell Edward upon our return, everything about the strange Danielle May. We our voices low- lack of privacy was always an occupational hazard when living in a household of vampires.

"Let's recap," he said after I'd finally recalled both English lessons and my cross-country run for him. "She smells funny. Why didn't you notice it before?"

I shrugged my shoulders helplessly. "I think it was because she had this- this _thing _with her blood. Before today it smelt faint, diluted, I suppose you could call it. I didn't notice it directly like I would've Jacob's scent- it's like she's just got a funny tinge to it most of the time."

"Are you sure she's not a vampire?" Edward asked cautiously, his brow furrowing.

I shook my head- I'd already thought that one through. "She's got a very deep tan, dark brown eyes, and her heart still beats- at a very fast rate, I might add."

He nodded, satisfied. "What else? You said that she runs well."

"Well? She covered over two hundred yards at a sprint just to catch up to me, and then finished the whole course without breaking a sweat." I shook my head, half-stunned that I didn't notice it at the time. Things seemed to become so obvious once in hindsight. "She's also hyper _all _the time- she couldn't sit still to save her life.

"But she isn't Quileute."

"Nor Native American at all, as far as I can tell. She told me herself that she came from New York. She _could _be a long-lost descendant though, I suppose, but I don't think the odds..."

"Maybe we can ask Jacob if he knows of any lost branches of his family tree," Edward said. "Or ask Alice if she can predict your future- see if your Gym lesson is a complete blank to her."

"Not now, though," I said. From out the window we could see Alice moving at an inhuman speed, going way overboard by setting up flowers, lights and decorations for tomorrow's visit. Jasper was trying to help her the best he could- by staying well out of her way.

"No," Edward agreed. "Certainly not now."

***

The day dawned, the sky still overcast but the temperature rising, mocking the bad weather we had only a few days ago. If this were yesterday or the day before, I'd be fervently hoping for the sky to clear, for the bright sun to shine- therefore guaranteeing me a day free of the boredom and monotony of high school.

It was ironic- most students wished for snow days. I wished for sunny days.

However, glancing up at the clearing clouds today put me in a bad mood. Of course, this week of all weeks would the sun come out to shine, denying me the opportunity to find out what exactly was wrong with the funny-smelling human. After half a night discussing her potential threat with Edward in low, conspirative whispers, it seemed as if the problem had almost doubled in size.

It was very illogical of me. I had only noticed that she had smelt strange at the time.

The Gym teacher, Mr. Oswald, had forfeited the idea of cross country after receiving medical certificates from over half the class, the other half bringing certified notes from parents, detailing lost gym gear and the like. Grumbling and muttering to himself, he ordered the class out onto the back oval. We were officially doing hockey.

However, Danielle May was officially absent.

I took up my place on the far sideline, half-watching at a distance as the more athletic humans whacked their opponents on the shins and hit the small ball as hard and as far as they could. Truth be told, I had never played hockey my two lives at all. My human days I spent avoiding all imaginable kinds and sports and Emmett has long since known that vampires and hockey sticks just _don't _mix. Trust me.

I felt slightly let down and deflated by the unexplained presence of the human, having overanalysing the girl for hours on end with Edward. Standing out alone in the fresh morning wind, all my thoughts and petty suspicions seemed to be almost trivial and ridiculous. Surely there would be a perfectly logical explanation for all of this- that is, of course, a logical explanation without the supernatural themes.

Such were my thoughts as I watched one of the boys being half-carried off to the sick room- thankfully for me, just with a mild concussion. I dwelled upon theories in French, in between Alice rattling off plans for this afternoon, and as well as in break, all the while toying with my uneaten apple, receiving apprehensive looks from both Edward and Jasper- Alice was too far out of it too care.

So when the bell rang for the start of the third period and I began to follow Jasper to our next class, Edward swept me aside instead, wanting to talk with me.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, a concerned light in his golden eyes. "You've been acting rather jumpy and erratic all day. Is something wrong?"

I could hardly be surprised at his accusation. After all, Edward kept a close scrutiny over both me and my emotions. I wondered if Jasper had tipped him off.

"I'm fine," I answered slowly, wondering what was actually wrong with me. "It's just I keep coming up with theories about what the funny-smelling human is. It's half-driving me mad, I think."

He searched the human crowd with his piercing eyes. "Is she here today?"

"No." I bit my lip. "That's why I'm so worried. I keep thinking that she now suspects me- us, and our family."

"It'll be alright," he said calmly, evenly. "I'll be able to see what she's thinking- when she turns up, that is. When Alice manages to calm down, I'll ask her to keep an eye out as well. In the meantime, don't worry. Remember that Jake and Nessie are coming today- that'll cheer you up."

"Jake and _Renesmee_," I corrected.

"See? That's more like it." He smiled his crooked smile and kissed me gently on my forehead.

Feeling slightly better, I unwillingly said goodbye and made my way to class.

In Social Studies, Jasper kept on shooting me worried and puzzled looks, no doubt sensing my unpredictable emotion change after break. I would have to tell him about Danielle May soon, I supposed to myself, half-listening to the teacher rattle off a wheezy lecture on the Industrial Ages. Edward had been opposed to telling anyone in the family just yet about my suspicions- especially either Jasper or Rosalie. When I had asked, he only said that they were prone to be a little over reactive when it came to human involvement in their charade, looking at me meaningfully as he answered.

It made me wonder what on earth Jasper and Rose were once planning to do to me when I was human.

When the bell rang to change classes, Japer sidled up to me as I was still packing my bag. "Is something wrong?" he asked my curiously, cocking his head to one side and looking me up and down.

"I don't think so," I said, feigning innocence. I hoped that Jasper wouldn't be able to see right through me. "Why do you ask?"

My pretence worked; he frowned slightly, his eyes worried. "You just seem very… excitable today. Are you okay?"

"Well, we've got Emmett, Rose, Jake and Renesmee coming over in only a few hours," I replied, trying to keep my feelings under check. It would be so easy if I could just block Jasper out of my mind with my shield…

"I guess that would warrant some enthusiasm from you," he noted, half smiling again. "Shall we go to Calculus and attempt to calm Alice down?"

"We'll probably die trying."

As I predicted, Alice was waiting for us in Calculus, half exploding with overexcitement. "I've narrowed it down to three o'clock," she whispered excitedly to us, abandoning all pretences of listening to the teacher. "They'll be going straight to the house, but we'll be able to beat them there if we hurry."

"What your definition of 'hurry'?" Jasper asked apprehensively, no doubt imagining the uproar that an Audi going one hundred and twenty miles up the small country road would cause.

Alice flapped her hand. "Nothing too drastic, so don't worry. Influencing the teacher to let you out early would be good though, Jazz." Not waiting for an answer, she withdrew a to-do list from the depths of her huge textbook, and I raised my eyebrows at the number of pages threatening to escape the staples. She ticked off half a dozen boxes, her eyes quickly scanning down the list.

"You don't think getting a puppy for Renesmee would be too much?" she asked me. "I only got her a small birthday present."

I snorted. "A BMW's hardly small," I reminded her, shaking my head. "Besides, she's already got a very loyal dog to play with- and we wouldn't want to give Jacob any competition to deal with."

"Point," she said, nodding as she crossed off another box from the list. "What a gift for Rosalie then? Would just a smooth, reflective surface do?"

She continued in this vein until the bell rang, firing questions at us both and marking off the countless jobs on her list one-by-one. Her Calculus book wasn't opened all lesson, and I swear that the teacher was about to stop his lecture and give her a scolding- until of course, Jasper met his gaze and he went back to his diagrams on the whiteboard, covering up his hesitation with a slight cough.

Lunch came and went like clockwork, counting down the hours until three o'clock. Without Danielle May present to interrogate, I seriously considered ditching my afternoon lessons to go and help Alice with whatever I could- she'd already announced that she wouldn't be attending. Jasper even had a forged note signed by "Mr. C. Cullen" to authenticate her departure. He put it down to a physiatrist appointment.

"Not very smart in my opinion," said Edward as we walked to Biology. "Honestly, how many normal teenagers would have to see a shrink? He's sparked a whole chain of rumours up at the front office- I can hear some of them from here…"

I laughed. "He only wrote that because she said he'd lose against Emmett if they had a fight tonight," I said. "He thought she was being delusional."

"She wasn't," he said, smiling. "I bet against him as well."

After a lesson of debating with myself I made the decision to skip English, considering that I'd be all alone with my mounting anticipation of the upcoming visit. With no one to talk to, I'd probably be forced to use my pent up energy on that Shakespeare essay- an unnecessary tedium that could be avoided. After my talk with Edward last night, it took only two minutes to trawl through cyberspace and find my essay I'd written for my college degree at Dartmouth. I only needed to change some minor details to suit the criteria and the date on top; although I suppose it would turn out to be rather interesting if I handed up a paper dated in 2012.

Edward was still going to class with Jasper to play our charade; it would look suspicious if all of us dropped out of school one by one. I stayed with him until the teacher entered the class and began to mark the roll. Even humans were sometime susceptible to noticing people who shouldn't be there, so I slipped out quietly and made my way down the corridor, completely deserted despite it being only five minutes after the human stampede.

My English class was only a short walk away from Edward's Spanish lesson, so I figured I might as well keep up appearances and explain my disappearance to the teacher. I quickly forged Esme's signature on a spare piece of paper, inventing an imaginary dentist appointment that would excuse me for the rest of the day. Usually I'd ask Jasper to do this for me, as he was the obvious expert on forging handwriting and signatures in our family, but I supposed my note would pass scrutiny easily enough- not that the teacher would bother to look at it too closely. They never did.

A loud banging in the distance quickly snapped my head out of my musings. Deafeningly louder than the mutterings and murmurings of the classes, the crash echoed across the empty corridor from downstairs, creating such a racquet I was surprised that students weren't flooding out of the classrooms to see the cause of the noise. I would've sworn that the ground was slightly shaking.

I increased my speed into a human jog, my curiosity growing as I went down the steps two at a time. The noise was coming from right in front of my English room- I could hear swearing added to the din.

I rounded the corner, and slowly down, I was able to see the whole scene.

The seemingly-absent Danielle May was bent almost double over one of the school-commissioned lockers, clutching her right foot and hopping around on the other, swearing in a very impressive fashion. There was a large dent in the locker door, and books, pens, and textbooks scattered on the ground in every direction.

I took one look at this and laughed, causing Danielle's head to whip around, investigating the source of the noise. When her eyes met mine, she relaxed and let go of her injured foot, tentatively putting weight onto it. She walked over to me, slightly limping.

"You saw?" she said glumly, casting her eyes back over the dented locker.

"I heard." I confirmed. She hung her head in dejection, and I had to laugh again. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'll live," she said grimly. "My locker wouldn't open and I lost my temper with it. Unfortunately I forgot that it was made of metal."

"It seems you ended up doing the same amount of damage to your locker as you did your foot," I said, raising an eyebrow. A pretty impressive dent was carved into the metal of the locker, but it would hardly measure up to the damage that Jacob or Seth could've done, even in their human forms.

She shrugged. "I'll heal quickly. The locker won't." She began to gather up your belongings from the floor. "Unfortunately, it made me late for English."

"You're already late for school," I mock accused. "Where were you this morning? I thought you were absent."

She flapped a hand in my direction whilst picking up a textbook. "Gym? I skipped. It seemed like too much effort to do that cross-country run again. I even got a legitimate excuse from Mr. Oswald."

"That's pretty impressive." I remarked, thinking of all the girls with detentions in Gym for not participating. "However, you better get to English soon now, or you'll have to find some more legitimate excuses." I glanced at my watch, which now read ten past two. Renesmee would be here in only fifty minutes...

"Me?" she quizzed quickly. "What about 'us'? Don't you have English too?"

I looked up, suprised. Oops. She'd caught me out. My mouth opened to tell her an excuse, any excuse- that I was skipping, that I had a dentists' appointment, I was meeting up with a couple of old friends, or even that I was getting out to see my half-vampire daughter, who was born forty years ago and was now dating a werewolf.

That's what went through my mind at the time, but instead my treacherous mouth blurted out, "Of course- but we'll leave the excuse making up to you won't we?"

She tilted her head sideways and looked me straight in the eye. "Cool," she said grinning. "I'm good at excuses."

* * *


End file.
